


One Last Time

by Teen_ZombieZ



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canonical Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Moving On, Other, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 01:08:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20183728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teen_ZombieZ/pseuds/Teen_ZombieZ
Summary: Years later after her dad’s death, Morgan is still in denial. She can’t grieve in peace. She couldn’t say goodbye. But she is Tony Stark’s kid, and nothing can stop her from talking to her dad one last time.





	One Last Time

She couldn’t change the past. There was too much danger, risks to change the future, to create multiple parallel universes. Her mom used to tell her that often. And a couple of years passed without her doing anything stupid. The girl had grown both physically and mentally. She had the best grades in her class, a true genius, according to some. Many compared her to her father, and each time, she didn’t know how to react to that.

For all, Tony Stark was a hero. For her, it was her dad.

Many years have passed since his death, since Morgan lost her dad. Years without her really being able to mourn him. Years spent looking for a way, any way, to bring him back. But it was impossible. To see him again, then? Too dangerous. Time travel was still an inaccurate and unstable science. But she never stopped searching. Hiding all of it from her mom, she grew up in the material left behind Tony. Jarvis was her most important ally. She managed to fix it and even improve it. But the real highlight in this story was Happy.

The bodyguard had been taking care of her since her father passed away. He protected her, watched over her, gave advice whenever she needed. He knew Tony well, so he tried to guide his daughter as his father would have done. Morgan was now 15 years old, major of her promo. She was brilliant, but stubborn. True cheeseburger fan. Thirsty to learn more. But still broken inside. Her dad’s death marked her deeply. She needed him, his advices, his arms and his love. She only wanted to see him, talk to him, that’s all.

And recently, the need to see her father again got worse. She didn’t sleep at night, spent her days tinkering with computers, searching for the missing variable. An idea had appeared in her head, and since then, never left her. Even her mother was starting to worry about Morgan. Pepper knew something was wrong for a long time. The girl had been followed by a psychiatrist almost all her life. But nothing seemed to take away her grief. And as Morgan wasn’t opening up to her, Pepper could only bring her love and support, waiting for her daughter to be ready to talk.

It was around midnight that the solution came to her. The missing variable. The way to get what she dreamed of during all these years. Like that, out of nowhere, like an illumination. As if someone had whispered the answer to her problem in the hollow of her ear.

And the next day, she had already begun to build the device that would allow her to achieve her dearest wish.

Morgan Stark had everything to succeed in life. She had everything to be happy, but she couldn’t be. For that, she had to settle something, to overcome her mourning. And she had just found the way to. The way to talk to her dad. In a safe way, without having to travel in time, without the need to summon a ghost - the idea alone made her laugh.

A bridge between two timelines. Only her dad would see and hear her. But for that, she had to build a safe cockpit, able to store the strong energy of Scott Lang’s time machine. Filter that energy to create an image. They wouldn’t be able to touch each other. Trying would be too dangerous. But seeing and talking to each other would be more than enough.

Morgan began construction in June. She spent all of her time there, stopped going to classes, and was doing everything to hide it from her mom. Scott Lang was included in the project, only if he swore to keep it secret. He wasn’t hard to convince, he himself had a daughter he loved more than anything in the world. With the help of Happy to keep it all secret, it took them almost a year to put everything in order. The final result was nothing beautiful. It was pretty sloppy, nothing to do with what Tony could have done in just a few weeks. As long as it worked, it was fine for Morgan.

“Are you sure about this?” Scott asked after several minutes staring at the craft in silence. Surrounded by a white fabric held by metal bars, the cabin formed a hexagon. The special metal would filter the quantum energy, and thus concentrate it in the middle where it would then be returned to the metal bars through the wells of the crevices in the ground, thus creating a continuous energy loop. If everything worked out as planned, the Tony of the past, the one just before the battle against Thanos would be materialized in front of her. The machine could only hold the gate open for 2 minutes. Leaving it open longer could create an explosion as the energy becomes impossible to control.

“Yes,” Morgan replied, still staring at the cockpit in front of her. “I’ve been waiting for this for too long. My calculations have been checked several times, everything is okay.” Looking at Scott, she could read worry in his eyes. But what she didn’t know was that Ant Man wasn’t afraid of the risks of the experience, but rather how the girl would come out of it. He didn’t want her to suffer more than she was already. And it was her convinced look, far too tired for her young age, that pushed Scott to continue.

“Alright. You have two minutes.”

A smile appeared on the kid’s face. The fulfillment of a life that would finally come to an end. Her heart started beating fast, and it hurt. Like a machine that stopped for too long, broken, rusty, that someone put back on.

Morgan settled in the cockpit and closed behind her. Putting herself in a corner, she observed the interior of her invention. It was rather dark, but not for long. The excitement gave her chills in the legs.

“In 5 …”

Scott pushed the first lever, and over the cockpit a wheel began to spin. At first slowly, it went so fast it became invisible. Then, a blue light came out of it and illuminated the ceiling.

“4 …”

He pushed a button, and the light filtered into the first pipe, filling the crackling space.

“3 …”

Pushing a second lever, six batteries on the ground, each placed at the end of the hexagon, started up. They fed up everything.

“2 …”

The last lever was pushed. The whole room got filled with blinding light. Somewhere, a light bulb exploded.

“1 …”

Scott didn’t hesitate for a second. He knew Morgan wasn’t wrong. Never before had he trusted someone so much for such a dangerous project. Well … not since Tony Stark. He knew it couldn’t fail.

And when he pressed the last button, there was an explosion. The blinding light disappeared, condensed in the wheel, and then spread into a ring of energy. All the lights burst. Pieces of glass fell everywhere. And when Scott opened his eyes, it was to see a single light in the big room still lit. The cockpit was still powered. Scott couldn’t know if it had worked. But he rushed to his watch and started the timer. Immediately, seconds began to tumble.

Inside, the young Morgan was temporarily blinded. Her invention was more powerful than she expected. Being certain she did something wrong, and failed, Morgan fell on her knees.

“Where am I?”

This voice. That voice she barely recognized. It’d been so long she last heard it. The only way she could hear that voice was with Tony’s farewell message before he used the time machine to defeat Thanos.

“Who are you?”

Getting up, Morgan faced her dad. Tears flooded her eyes, tears she wiped quickly. She refused to miss a second. She had to hurry. Time was running out.

“I…”

Tony tilted his head to the side before looking around, wide-eyed at the awesome complexity of the machine that had brought him here.

“I’m…”

“Morgan?”

Tony walked over to her saying her name. Then he said it again, and it took the girl off guard. When he added _honey,_ she couldn’t hold back the heavy sobs that shook her body.

“You can’t touch me.” It was a miracle she managed to mumble those few words between two sobs. It was vital they didn’t touch each other. “You… I…”

“What am I doing here? Is it…”

“I don’t have much time, dad … I have to talk to you … I have to … Just …”

“My sweet Morgan. You’ve grown so much. You’re now a very beautiful and smart woman, you got that from me,” Tony smiled as he took a few steps back, although he was dying to take his child in tears in his arms.

“Dad …” Morgan continued. She had so much to say to him, so much to ask. If only she could touch him, hug him, and never let him go…

“You built this machine, created a mini quantum energy center, to take me from one era to another. Without any danger for the past, nor for your present. You have created a perfect tesla flexion. I am so proud of you.”

“Dad, you have to listen to me…”

“Do you miss me?”

These words left her speechless. Of course she missed him. So much. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have spent all these years trying to talk to him. All these years lost, never really being happy, but not entirely unhappy either. Taken between the two, walking on the tightrope, taking the risk to fall at every moment. And she fell, so many times, but each of her falls made her stronger. And she got up, knees scratched each time, to start again.

“Of course you do. I guess I’m dead, right? ”

Staring at him, Morgan didn’t know what to say. He knew. He recognized her even if he never saw her older. He knew what she built and for what purpose. Of course he knew. He was so smart.

“Honey… you have to go over that. You are strong. Stronger than anyone. Be nice to your mother, I’m sure she worries a lot about you. ”

“Dad … I … I have to tell you something …”

“Morgan. I don’t want to know how it’s going to end. Anyway, you know I won’t remember when I’ll be back. That’s how this machine works. So that it doesn’t alter the past.”

“30 seconds!”

It was Scott’s voice, resonating outside the cabin. Less than 30 seconds. Morgan did everything to memorize the image in front of her, his features, his voice, his words, the sweetness and all the love in his eyes.

“It’s time to wake up, you have to continue living your life.”

“No … I … I’m not ready … I …”

“I love you tons, Morgan.”

“10 seconds!”

“I…”

Tears had flooded Tony’s eyes. But never did love leave his gaze as Scott was counting the remaining seconds behind them, numbers echoing, sounding so far away.

“I love you 3000.”

And as quickly as he appeared, Tony Stark vanished along with all light. Morgan was plunged into darkness. The seconds passed like water sliding down against a window, quickly, fleeing something invisible. Like the tears on her cheeks. And when the light came back, Morgan was alone in the cockpit. She had never felt so alone. And yet, her heart was full of him.

–

Two weeks later. Two weeks since Morgan talked to her dad. Two weeks, and yet she didn’t feel better. She didn’t feel any difference.

Two weeks. The machine was still there, but inoperative. All the energy accumulated had plunged the city into darkness for two days. The circuits were burnt. Never again Morgan could see her dad. Her body was numb, she didn’t know what to think or what to do. These last months, busy making the machine, made her miss so many classes she couldn’t make up for it. And more than ever, her mother worried about her.

"Morgan?”

Pepper Potts knocked softly against the closed door of her daughter’s room. Morgan was leaving her room rarely, and that worried her mom a lot.

“Come in.”

The room was plunged into darkness. Pepper caught her feet in clothes that were lying on the floor, and stumbled a bit before she sat on the edge of the bed. She waited for her eyes to get used to the darkness before speaking.

“I’m worried about you, Morgan,” she started softly.

“I’m fine,” the girl replied, hoping that soon her mother would leave before she started crying and told her everything.

“No, you’re not… You know it just like me … Morgan …” Pepper put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “I spoke to Scott. I know everything.”

Morgan stiffened. Expecting a reprimand, or worse, a punishment, she was frozen in the most complete silence, her eyes burning their desire to cry.

“How was he like?”

But it wasn’t the case.

“He was handsome, proud … cracking … and he understood everything immediately.”

She sat up in bed and continued to speak. Once she started, it was easier to continue. Everything came out of her mouth so easily, like the weight was finally leaving her shoulder. She told her mom everything. Her deepest pains, fears, demons, accompanied by the story of the time she met her father and how she managed to build a tesla flexion. Then she had to explain what was a tesla flexion to Pepper who was staring at her, her face blank, not understanding a single word. It reminded Pepper of Tony, and how he had to explain sometimes more than once something he was working on, because for her, it was chinese. 

Then, Morgan told her mom how sorry she was for not saying anything, and for keeping everything secret. She just didn’t know how to handle her pain, didn’t want to bring her mom into all of this, so she put all of her mind into something, just to stop thinking, to stop the pain. And now that she did it, that she built the machine, saw her dad…

It was like she had nothing left. 

Nothing to stop thinking.

Morgan talked to her mother all night. They cried together. It helped both of them. And when finally she fell asleep, it was to dream of her dad. He was standing in front of her, with the biggest of smiles on his face, showing all the pride of a father towards his child. He raised his hand, and she raised hers. They waved goodbye. Tony was always going to be in her heart and in her memories. But for the first time in almost 10 years, she was ready. Ready to start moving forward.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all like this! Leave a kuddos if you did, and sorry for any mistakes, English isn't my first language!


End file.
